A few months back we gave you an update on Subkultur Entertainment’s brand-new 4K restoration of Blood Friday. That Blu-ray release is currently scheduled for December 16th (though this isn’t set in stone yet), but for those of you in the Los Angeles area you’ll have a shot at seeing the new restoration sooner! On Saturday, November 26th the Cinematic Void at the Egyptian will host a screening of the brand-new restored version of Bloody Friday. This will be the world premiere of the uncut version and will be followed by a Q&A with Elijah Drenner.

BLOODY FRIDAY
Co-presented by Alamo Drafthouse Los Angeles
Screening format: DCP

Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028
Sat, Nov 26, 2016 7:30pm
$11.00
Purchase Tickets Here

Synopsis:
August 4, 1971: Two bank robbers stormed a bank, taking 18 hostages and demanded 2 Million Deutsche Mark in ransom. As word spread, nearly 5,000 bystanders had gathered in front of the bank to catch a glimpse of the savage stand-off. By nightfall, after tense negotiations, police provided the ransom and getaway car. The bandits stormed out of the the bank with a 19-year-old hostage, ready to flee the scene…

This nerve-shattering event marked the first hostage-taking emergency in Germany after World War 2.

Bloody Friday, was released one year after the actual event and was helmed by director Rolf Olsen, (The Last Ride To Santa Cruz, When Night Falls On The Reeperbahn) one of the leading German genre filmmakers of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Bloody Friday is widely considered by Euro-crime cinephiles, as his crowning achievement and one of the greatest Krimi films of its era. This Italian-German co-production stars Raimund Harmstorf, Amadeus August and Gianni Macchia. The soundtrack was composed by Euro-soundtrack fave Francesco De Masi.

Bloody Disgusting has also learned some exclusive info about the upcoming Blu-ray release. While the Los Angeles screening of the film will be the uncut version the Blu-ray will have a further extended cut featuring 9 more scenes. These scenes were never dubbed into English so Subkultur is considering this extended version to be an extended German cut of the film. The release will also include an Italian cut of the film which features one scene that is drastically altered. In total the Subkultur Entertainment Blu-ray release of Bloody Friday will contain three different cuts of the film.

The Blu-ray restoration comes from the original camera negative which previously had long been considered to be damaged beyond repair. Subkultur won’t go as far as saying any of the three cuts qualify as a “director’s cut” since they don’t know director Rolf Olsen’s true intentions, however, the restoration process was approved by the film’s cinematographer Franz Xaver Lederle.

In addition to the three cuts of the film the Blood Friday Blu-ray will contain audio commentaries, interviews with cast and crew, a then-and-now comparison of locations used in the film, trailers and the UFA Newsreel report that has real footage from the actual bank robbery and hostage standoff that inspired the film.

To date Subkultur Entertainment has done some tremendous work. Blood Friday is shaping up to be their best yet.